Well I will just call them a fucking brilliant Experimental Post-Metal Band blending Black Metal to great effect.

Their debut release - Sentinel - is a pure work of fucking genius. Great lyrics, vocals and riffs to showcase this great band's talents.

Sentinel marks the arrival of a truly great band. Black Table are the real deal. A true original band in the realm of Extreme Metal.

The 4 tracks and 25 mins just flies by with it's sheer brilliance. The first track - Heist - instantly takes over your entire being. The sludge/post-metal vibes with the harsh black metal vocals feels like this band has been around a long, long time.

The amazing title track - Sentinel - is up next and its 8:30 minutes of brilliant Post-Metal/Post-Black Metal riffs that you will instantly be playing over and over again like I did.

Seriously Sentinel is an astonishing work from a truly great band that I will definitely be keeping an eye on as I expect bigger and better things from this amazing band.

They have delivered a genre defining release that will astound you with its ideas and creativity of riffs in equal measure.

I loved every fucking second of this EP. I can't recommend it highly enough. So headover to BandCamp right now and check this amazing band for yourself. It's on Pay Anything Type Deal. I don't think it will be their for long when word gets out about Black Table as they are seriously that great.

Baulta are a superb band who play haunting instrumental Post-Rock/Post-Metal music adding alternative metal vibes to their music as well.

They have been on this blog before back in March 2011. I rated their debut album - Deeply sorry to interrupt your megalomania - A stunning album to chill out to if your a fan of Russian Circles and Pelican.

Well Baulta are back with their superb new album - That's My House Your Living In. A stunning album which follows on from their last great release.

OK so Baulta haven't add anything new or ground-breaking since their debut album. But why the fuck should they when they already sound this great.

That's My House You're Living In - has 9 tracks and out 52 minutes of breathtaking new music to rock out to. These guys have written some beautiful and stunning tracks such as - The First Cigarette Of The Day, Travel Safe in Space - My Friend and the wonderful - Golden veins, happy years but now i'm dead

Baulta do add haunting ambient based music to settle the mood but they do let rip with the heaviness of the Post-Metal vibe on most of the tracks. So buckle up as your in for a great ride.

The album is brilliantly produced and played by all involved. This is an emotional action packed album that you will find very hard to resist.

Baulta should be proud of this album as it will surely gain them more exposure and fans across the globe. A stunning and brilliant album that I can't recommend highly enough.

So headover to BandCamp and download this now on Pay Anything Type Deal. Highly Recommended.

Midnight Zombie Alligator are a Psychedelic Stoner Rock Band from Barcelona, Spain

The members are:

Alejandro MorenoDavid TrilloToni Pérez

MIDNIGHT ZOMBIE ALLIGATOR are a superb and highly-original Experimental Prog-Doom-Stoner Metal Band who blend their mix of genres to great effect. I originally featured these guys on the blog last year when I reviewed their excellent last album - “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil”.

It was an epic take on the Stoner Rock/Metal genre with huge lashings of Prog Rock mixed in with their highly original sound.

Well the guys are back with their equally stunning brilliant new album - Nova Sico - A 6 song and 52 minute blast of amazing out there riffs. The album is a fucked up and out there experimental concept album and I would expect nothing less from these hugely talented rockers.

I will let the guys tell you what the band is about.

"Nova Sico is a conceptual work whose lyrics tells the story of a zombie apocalypse survivor. This album is included in a project that includes:

- “Alfa i Omega”, a story written by Sergi G. Oset, based on our new album lyrics and published in Catalan, Spanish and English.

I will let the band do the talking themselves as they have provided a great in-depth bio

Absolute Blackness are two brothers from the city of Thessaloniki in Greece , Panagiotis and John they play generally metal music with influences from Black Sabbath , Orange Goblin , Zakk Wylde , Nightstalker , Spiritual Beggars but they're also influenced from groups like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin .

They started back on 2000 Johnny bought an Epiphone SG and started learning how to play , about 6 months later Giotis started singing and tried to learn how to play the guitar after he bought an Epiphone Les Paul ,in years another SG Epiphone came , a Stagg B-Bass , many BOSS pedals , two Marshall Amps, an SG Gibson , a Blackstar Amp and many Shure mics .

2005...After trying to find a suitable name for their band they came to the name "Neutral Position" and produced an unofficial demo that included 3 tracks.

2006...Cause of the "neutrality" of the name of the band they considered changing the name to a more suitable name closer to their thoughts and play style...Absolute Blackness was born!

2007...Their first album "Across" had an unofficial release including 8 tracks , since then they keep writing until today , with the years they have created a large pool of unfinished songs and creative riffs from which they try to take the best of them and produce some good music with modern day influences and inspirations.

2011..."The Room of Doom"...the place where Absolute Blackness records their music is a reality. Recording ,mixing ,writing ,graphics design and everything that has to do with the band has found its home.

2012 early...A new band mate, a bass player and a graphic artist Jimmy has joined the band!!!

2012 end...Their second album "Stoned" is ready for release , it will feature 11 tracks with pure stone/heavy metal atmosphere. This is their first time of trying to promote our songs by ourselves.

Well I have heard of a few tracks from the band they do know how to play a mean riff. It's not the most original of sounds but they know how to get the job done. If your a fan of Orange Goblin, Zakk Wylde and Black Sabbath then this should rock your fucking world.

Hopefully when the album is out the band will let me know and I will post links where you can get it. Highly Recommended.

I will let the detailed press bio tell you what these superb stoner rockers are all about:

"POSEIDOTICA is an instrumental rock band from Argentina. It features Walter Broide of LOS NATAS on drums and is one of the most active live acts in Buenos Aires best known for their superb and intensive audio visual performances. POSEIDOTICA released three albums to date (via Aquatalan Records, Argentina); the latest, Crónicas del Futuro, was one of the three nominees for the Gardel Awards in the category "Best studio recording" for 2012. POSEIDOTICA are preparing to record their forth album in the beginning of 2013"

The guys are offering their superb 3rd album -Cronicas del Futuro - for free download from BandCamp right now. It features 9 great tracks that should have you head-banging in no time at all.

Poseidótica are an extremely tight unit and showcases another great band from our South American Brothers. The songs do have a slight Stoner Rock vibe but falls mainly in the Prog Rock field.

I loved every minute of it. It shows that the South American Stoner Rock scene is starting to make a name for itself especially with bands such as Cultura Tres, Banda De La Muere, At Devil Dirt amongst others. You can now add Poseidótica to that list. Superb stuff.

So headover to BandCamp and get downloading right now. You won't be sorry.

Check out excellent tracks such as: Dimensión Vulcano, Los Extraños and Xantanax. All showing what this great band can do. Playing heavy psychedelic progressive rock riffs with a great stoner rock edge.

I don't know much about this great band but they are a superb Psych Rock Band dealing in all things Desert Rock/Stoner Rock based vibes.

All I have is the following description from the band:

Saludos from La Paz, Baja California Sur, México"

"The Baja desert... where deep inside another dimension, where in between the worlds of reality and infinity, where outside of the boundaries of your own imagination, the music will take over to guide you to ..."

Well the band's debut album - Encuentro de Sutilezas - is 4 tracks and 25 mins of out there Psychedelic Stoner Rock vibes mixed in Fuzz and Desert Rock for great effect.

It's purely instrumental but the band instantly draw you into their crazy world of out there riffs. Especially the 10 minute epic - Tormenta en Cautiverio and my fave track - Encuentro de Sutilezas.

If you want something different to listen to in the Desert Rock/Stoner Rock scene then this great album is it.

So headover to BandCamp and download this brilliant trippy release right now. You won't regret it. It's available on BandCamp Pay Anything You Want Deal.

Saturday, 22 December 2012

Well 2012 is almost gone and 2013 is almost upon us. So the end of world prophecies was a load of horse-shit yet again and we are still here.

It's time for my best 25 records of 2012. The first 15 were already published on my mate Steph's excellent blog - Temple Of Perdition

The list may have slightly changed from the list I originally give Steph a couple weeks back. But not by much. So this is my list only. Not the other Sludgelord Team members. As I know they will have their own personal choices.

This was a very hard list to put together as 2012 has been a fucking brilliant year for Sludge/Stoner/Doom/Post-Metal music. And I apologize to any bands that we have missed out and featured on the blog.

I want to say thank you to all the bands and artists that we have featured on Sludgelord over the last 12 months or so. But I want to thank the viewers for keep on visiting the blog. As we really appreciate it. Thank You.

Today on Sludgelord I am interviewing the excellent French Occult Based Sludge/Stoner/Doom Metal Band - HUATA

HUATA's style of music incorporates spooky lyrics with awesome Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal riffs. Think more of an Occult based Church Of Misery and you have HUATA's style of Occult Rock.

They released their brilliant début album – Atavist Of Mann – in late 2011 to massive critical acclaim from fans and critics alike.

So much so I bought a copy on Vinyl. And what a a great record it is to. Brilliantly designed that matches the eerie mood of their music.

Well HUATA have agreed an interview with yours truly. So lets get started.

Q1 – Hi Guys, Thanks for doing this. How are things with you Today.

Ronan & Ben: Hi Steve, and thank you for letting us preaching in the Sludgelord Chapel. Today it's the cold season, our favorite one, and it's a good thing to see the frozen waves sweeping over old Europa. We toured over Iberia at the end of September, and from then we played over five festivals, some in France, Netherlands, and also one esoteric event in Sweden. The gigs are over now, and we're gonna take some time at home to prepare new tracks.

The northern winds of wisdom bring us good omens; a split with the Batavian giants from Bitcho, a participation at the Danish festival Heavy days in Doomtown, if this edition's line up is as great as the last one, for sure it's gonna be a great ritual. We are also preparing a tour with Dopethrone from Montreal over Europa this spring.

Q2 – For people not in the know can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about.

Of course. Huata is a four-pieces band, coming from Brittany, a Celtic country in the west corner of France. We play some kind of Doom Stoner, with occult themes and lyrics.

We started the worship on 2006, and with some line up issues we recorded an EP with only two members. From then, we became a real band in 2009 and started to play on good shows. In 2010 we recorded our album Atavist of Mann, and released it in the beginning of 2012. Since then we had a bigger international activity, supporting bigger bands in foreign countries.

Q3 – How would you describe your sound as I class it as Occult based Sludge/Stoner Metal.

Well, yeah you're right. We're not looking after anyone to tell him the exact kind of music we play, and neither we won't importunate him telling that we don't want to be classified. We follow the legacy of the Doom music, from Black Sabbath to Electric Wizard, Cathedral, Bongzilla, Ocean chief, etc. But we also take inspiration in the old stuff like Coven, Black Widow, Magma, King Crimson... Originality is not our purpose, it's all a matter of feeling, and we just have our will to play the music we want, to fit it with the identity of what Huata should be.

Q4 – Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians.

We're inspired with both actual and retro stuff, but notice that it doesn't mean we're only listening to this kind of music. We come from various musical scenes, and we'd like to play many kind of. But we don't want all of our influences to come into our composition process, otherwise it would be a messy melting pot.. We go on with the idea that Huata is like a whole entity, and we're here to build it with the most homogeneous inspiration it can fit with.

Q5 – Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills.

We're not full time musicians, all of us have a job, or try to get one. You can say whatever you want about the Doom's rising, the ones who get enough bills to live with their bands are a chosen few, and it takes at least a decade to come up. If ever we'd get this opportunity, we'd be glad then, cause it would help us a lot to increase Huata's universe. From now on, our Oracle remain silenced with this point.

Q6 – Are your family and friends supportive of your music.

No we can't say that unfortunately. They are not understanding our purpose, for our families we are just making loud noise.. But we do have some devoted friends who believe in our works and understand why we are doing this, furthermore than as musicians but also as persons.

Q7 – What is the song-writing process in the band. Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual.

We (Ben and Ronan) write all the lyrics, and the most part of the music is composed by us too. The rest of the band work the arrangement and bring some good ideas also. But each guy in the band has his own part of the job outside the rehearsal room : Chris is our sound engineer, since our EP Open the gates of Shambhala and Alex cares about all the merchandising sending and orders. Ronan works on the booking and contacts with labels and gig organizations and Ben does all the visuals.

Q8 – Atavist Of Mann has received some brilliant press. It has already got some serious praise. Mainly by ourselves and other Stoner/Doom Websites. Have you been happy with the responses so far.

Of course we're glad, and thanks to your help and all the other websites that supports the doom scene !

Q9 – Was it an easy or hard album to write and record for.

Yes it was quiet easy to compose actually, we worked together (Ronan and Ben) in a cave on the riffs we had and how to arrange them to make interesting stuff. The recording was a bigger challenge because we've never recorded with "pro" conditions. For the first time, a sound engineer (Chris) was working directly with us on our fuzzy sound and he made a really good job. The interesting part of the recording is the moment when we make all the arrangements and orchestrations (organ, effects, drones, choirs, samples etc) because it brings back the composition in the process and it's the moment when the whole atmosphere of the album was born for Atavist Of Mann.

Q10 – Is the Occult Side of your music a big part of your lives or just for when performing with the band.

The Occult side in the music doesn't means for us "to look occult" or "to have an attitude"... We're not wearing grimmrobes all day long ! We're just involved into this culture of mythology, and the hidden side of the history. Trying to make a magic ritual, or some kind of ceremony on stage. Many of our personnal beliefs are based on occultism but we don't feel like wearing an "occultism apparatus" outside the band. The tales and the songs we write are enough to catalyzed this aspect of our life, Huata is really the right spot.

Q11 – Is there a scene for Sludge/Doom/Stoner bands to perform in your home town on a regular basis. Or do you have to travel further afield to perform on a regular basis.

Actually there are good Doom and Stoner bands in France, and in Brittany (the West coast community, http://westcoaststoner.free.fr/), but the audience is still small, so it's hard for us to help the foreign bands to come on tour. Fortunately to us, we managed to cross the frontiers, and play in big festivals like the Roadburn or so. No needs to tell you we hope to help the other french bands to do it either ! And we really begin to get a fan base in Netherlands, mostly due to the Bitcho's guys ! In any case it's easier to play in foreign countries for us, both for the quality of the venues and the number of people showing up.

Q12 – Do you have any interesting and exciting stories from tour. Have you toured with anyone famous. If so who have been your fave band to perform for/with.

Well we made our tour over Iberia, our first "long" tour, and we had this gig in Coruña, Galicia (another Celtic country). The show was fucking awesome and the place is amazing : an old monk school within a Chapel, something like 6000m². The greatest squat we ever saw.

We played with some great bands, Ramesses, Electric Wizard, Monarch!, Kadavar, Belzebong, Year of no light, Aosoth, Vulcain, and of course at the Roadburn 2012 (YOB, Sleep, Voivod, The wounded kings...). On of our favorite was to play with Electric Wizard, a good smoky time indeed hehe.

Q13 – You performed at Roadburn earlier this year. How did that go for you on a professional level and on a personal level as well.

On a professional level, no needs to tell you that it helped us a lot since then, this was an open door to the festivals and invitations to gigs. But it happened thanks to the Mudfest (NL), and Jaap Melman : we played at this fest in January and Walter, the Roadburn manager, was here as a DJ and saw our show. He seems to enjoyed our performance and bought our LP, and a few days later we were invited at the Festival. This is such a good event, and however a lot of people would say this is an expensive event, the place is small and the bands demand a tough organization. Walter is not a hype dealer at all, he's just a passionate guy about music, and the event totally worth the experience.

And personally of course this was a big step for us, something like "We did it, fuck yeah". The gods of mystery are leading us to the glorious times. Millenium !

Q14 – What are your favorite bands around at the moment. Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal.

Ronan: In my case, i'm listening a lot to old and new Doom Sludge Stoner stuff, nothing very original in a way hehe. At the moment, I'm listening to the latest Ancestor's album, to me it means a musical achievement I never expected. We discovered on stage Belzebong, and also Kadavar, Captain Crimson. I would also mentioned the russian band Pressor which is a damn good Weedeater-like, and the american band Planetoid that is also an awesome Hard rock band. And Häshcut, the french band, their EP did something to me i never felt since the first time i've been listening to Electric Wizard. But i also like to listen sometimes to old stuff like Steeleye span or Fairport convention...

Ben: I'm a lot into jazz stuff and I've recently discovered Fontanelle (Southern Lord records) which I dig a lot. The latest Eagle Twin, Astra, Deftones albums are great as always and I really enjoyed the noise-hardcore band Family with their Portrait album. I can also mention the french bands Filiamotsa and Bagarre Générale. Chris and I best discoveries of the year for sure. Classy stuff !

Q15 – What are your views of blogs such as Sludgelord featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines? Has your music reached the mainstream mags, at home or around the world?

It's difficult to see when we're in a mainstream deal, or an underground one... Actually all are calling themselves as underground supporters. For sure we dealed with some big magazines like Hard rock, Metal Hammer or Xroads, but the guys are deeply involved in the music, as passionate people, and they're not kind of mainstream people, but just working on mainstream mags, that's the difference. Working for the music is a common thing, but getting bills with it sounds like a privilege, so it's like you should work three times more if you want to deserve an acceptable payment... DIY passion and money are always delicate to deal with.

Q16 – Atavist Of Mann has been released on Vinyl via ThroatRuiner Records. I love the design of the entire Vinyl Cover. Like a mini horror movie with the pictures and scriptures with in it. Who come up with the design.

Actually, unless a lot of people tell it was released only by Throatruiner, please notice it has been released by the De Arte Magica cult, including also the participation of Boue Records, Psychedoomelics, Odio Sonoro and Mordgrimm records.

As we mentioned it, Benjamin is the designer of the band: he made all the LP, tapes, CD, t shirts, tour poster and logo artworks. As he's also involved in the lyrical and musical composition, he knows how to transpose the atmosphere and our aesthetic visually. For Atavist Of Mann we worked with Lucie Inland a good friend of us to make a photo shooting of the sacrificial ritual you can see on the whole artwork, which was the base Ben worked on.

Q17 - What are your future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so. Anything we should be excited about.

Yes for sure. As we told you upper, we'll come up to the Heavy Days in Doomtown (Denmark) in early May. We're also preparing an Europa invasion with our friends of Dopethrone (Quebec), they will come overseas to rumble France, Germany, Poland, Benelux, and in UK too where we'll share two gigs with the Wounded Kings. By the way thanks to them who helped us to organize gigs there !

We are also very proud to announce that we're gonna release a Split album with Bitcho (NL), thanks to the french label Musicfearsatan, on 700 beautiful LPs. The sound will be awesome, so stay tuned.

Q18 – There are a lot of great Occult Based rock bands around at the moment. Seems to be a genre of music on the rise. Are you proud to be part of that scene. Any bands that stand out from that genre of music from yourselves.

We are more familiar to the whole Doom/Stoner/Sludge scene actually, so it looks more like a big family to us as we played with many bands from that scene. But we don't mind if some people think that we are more occult/retro rock affiliated. If you take a look at Dopethrone, Bitcho, the Wounded kings, they all are standing on a different "doom" subgenre, but who cares, we're proud to be in that sort of brotherhood. Real support between bands comes out from friendship and respect, not from the kind of music you play.

Q19 – What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band?

Oh man, the least rewarding moment for sure is to bring up our heavy material on stage and load it after the show when we're still sweating like hell. Heavy volume needs Heavy gear, and we've got some. The other important issue mainly comes from the sound volume... it's quit hard when the owner of the venue ask us to put it down, cause we don't want to do any compromise, in order to make the show as good as possible, as it first goes with the sound and the feeling you can have with it.

But the better moments are on stage during the ceremony. The fuzz shall penetrate you and transcend your soul to open your third eye. We like to continue this experience after the show, sharing some beers with the crowd, fans and the other bands. When you make everything possible to go further than just a show, it's like trying to invoke something deep together.

Q20 – Does it surprise you that people buy merchandise from you guys.

Yes it does, surprisingly our LP is already sold out in less than a year, so we're trying to repress it. It is quit amazing that the people enjoy our album and stuff that much.. Thanks to the merch we sell, we can cover our travelling expenses, but we still have to put money in the project so the merchandise helps a lot for the financial health of the band.

In France the situation is quite hard, financially speaking, for "metal" and "hardcore" bands.. only Gojira have a great international status and may not have the financial issues we're dealing with. Closer to us, the only well known band in our genre are Monarch! and the merch they are selling is also very important to them, so every underground and DIY band needs that support from the fans and listeners.

Q21 - Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans

Yes. We want to take the opportunity to thank them for their unexpected support, which helps us to go further. We mean to play the music we like in a first row, and when it comes to the public, and make fans, it's just more than what we expected, just because we play what we like. This sincerity means a lot to us, the gods of mystery shall be grateful to them.

Well guys thanks for doing this interview. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord. Can't wait to hear what you guys have in store for future releases. Hope to see you on your UK tour next year supporting The Wounded Kings. Cheers. Steve.

I first discovered the brilliant Greek Stoner Rock Band – Tuber – back in 2010 from the legendary blog – Sludge Swamp. I became an instant fan of their winning blend of Desert Rock/Stoner Rock/Post-Rock riffs. Tuber were a breath of fresh air in today's Stoner Rock Scene.

A lot of other blogs thought so as well and they are highly thought of in the Stoner Rock world. I featured them here a few times on the blog. Here is the last article I done on this great band.

Their stunning début EP – has been acclaimed from fans and Stoner Rock critics alike. It's a brilliant album you should all check out now.

Well I thought it was time to interview them on Sludgelord. So here we are folks with one of Greece's best Stoner Rock Bands. TUBER

Q1 – Hi Guys, Thanks for doing this. How are things with you Today.

Hi Steve! Thanks for having us! A big thank you to your blog for it was really supportive to our band and played a huge role in getting our music out there!

Q2 – For people not in the know can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about.

Well, the band started long time ago when brothers Nick and Yannis where still students in Crete. And since they play so long together they have a unique bonding and chemistry which is the core of this band. I met them 3 years ago when they came to me asking to record a demo in my studio. They didn't have a bass player at the time so I offered to play the bass for the recording. I really liked the songs and the atmosphere of the music and we ended up producing our first EP.

Q3 – How would you describe your sound as I class it as you cover a lot of genres in your music.

Our sound is heavy, it's soft, it's really heavy and it's really soft! It's rock n roll and it's instrumental! We all come from different musical backgrounds and that reflects in our music. Everyone brings something different to the equation.

Q4 – Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians.

Our influences start from early rock era and go up to this day. Everyone has his own references which are brought to the band but I won't address specific artists because it's the deferential influences that shapes our music. And I think this reflects to the final result.

Q5 – Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills.

No, that's not possible at the given time. We all have day jobs.

Q6 – Are your family and friends supportive of your music.

Yes, especially our girlfriends are our no 1 fans! At least now that we are in a fetal stage of development. When we'll evolve into the rock stardom kind of thing and all the groupies will be chasing our drummer, then we'll see (just kidding)

Q7 – What is the song-writing process in the band. Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual.

It always starts from the individual, with an idea, a guitar riff or a melody, and then it's introduced to the band and we'll start from there. If we like the way it sounds then we'll try to have a constant sonic variation going on, even if it's the same guitar riff from the beginning to end. In the nature of playing a series of notes on a guitar or a series of chords it’s that sense of regularity and at the same time a change and variation in the sonic aspect of the whole that brings that magical quality in music.

It just makes it to mean new things to us and as a song goes onwards the emotional response is constantly going in unexpected places. After all music was always about people getting together, it's nice to play alone in your bedroom or such but when you interfere with other people is when the magic happens!

Q8 – Your Début EP came out in 2010 and it received much praise from fans and critics alike. Bet you were pleased with the responses you have received so far.

More than pleased! We directly mailed our music to people from all around the world and we've read reviews through google translate in many many languages! It's a beautiful feeling and it's what keeps us going!

Q9 – You released your début EP on limited edition vinyl which has now sold out. How did that come about. Are there any more plans to produce any more vinyl copies.

The orange ones, yes they are sold out. We still have copies of the black vinyl edition. We never intended to go there with this EP but we got an offer from Krauted Mind Records which was too good to turn down. I don't think we are going to produce any more copies, at least not now, cause we are focused 100% to recording our new record.

Q10 – Has BandCamp been a big help in getting your music across.

It has been the only help and the most important! It all started from there, bandcamp is an excellent service for new bands and artists! I can't praise enough on how good it is. Besides helping you to reach individuals around the globe it's also a tool for blogs like yours to explore and find new music. And here comes the best part, we put it on bandcamp you spread the word! That simple, with just a few clicks.

Q11 - What are your views of blogs such as Sludgelord featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines? Has your music reached the mainstream mags, at home or around the world?

As I said, blogs like Sludgelord is the new indie radio stations. That late night show you used to listen as a young boy, before the Internets, in order to find true music, not the one that mainstream radio fed you in the mouth all day! It's a new and huge underground community and like old indie and pirate stations it's in war with the big guys. As all pirate stations went down you see great blogs going down everyday. It's just sad. I don't know if our music reached the mainstream mags, I never read them.

Q12 – Is there a scene for a band like your own to perform in your home town on a regular basis. Or do you have to travel further afield to do regular gigs.

No, our home town is a small place in Nothern Greece called Serres and it doesn't have any local scene. You have to travel to bigger cities like Thessaloniki or our capital Athens to do proper gigs.

Q13 – Greece has some excellent Stoner Rock bands at the moment (Planet Of Zeus, 1000mods, Nightstalker) who seem to be getting more famous and recognition abroad. Is it hard performing your style of music to Greek audiences. Do you have to rely more on International Audiences to buy your merchandise.

True. Greece has developed a strong stoner scene the past 15 years. Nightstalker was the first band who spread the stoner rock to Greek audience almost at the same time with Kyuss or Monster magnet so there is an audience that supports the local stoner scene and all the new bands that went down that path. Of course audience is relevant to the population so you need to expand in order to gain a broader audience. If you are in the instrumental genre your music is much more easily conceived to people around the world than having weird English accent and funny lyrics.

Q14 – What are your favorite bands around at the moment. Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal.

We are fans of the classic and at the same time enthusiastic supporters of the new era. A lot of times you have to look back in order to take a step forward. Music, if not better, was definitely more true back then. It involved people getting together, it wasn't always perfect but it was true. Now you can do music with one person on the computer and an artist, grid edit it to death and polish it to flavor.

You don't even need talent from either side. I don't want to sound like a dinosaur here, we all go back to Kyuss when we want to experience something true and original but you always have your eyes and ears open for anything new and refreshing! Speaking of which there is this new band from Greece called “This is Nowhere”, you may have heard of them but if you haven't check them out.

Q15 – What were your original intentions when you started the band and have they been met yet.

I would rather call it dreams and not intentions. And in this sense no, not yet. We would like to tour Europe and US, we hope to be able to do it soon! It's cool to have your music travel abroad through the internet but being able to do it in person and seeing how people respond to your music and get direct feedback from your gigs is a unique experience.

When we where recording our first EP it was more of a studio project. Our original goal was just to capture those 4 songs on tape so that we can go home at night, blast on the stereo system and enjoy it with our friends! This evolved to a band like experience and through the internet reached to a broader audience. The feedback from all these people around the world brings new intentions and visions to the band, it motivates you to go even further and reach for wider goals. But, and I am sure the guys agree with me, the original intention will always be to have fun!

Q16 - What are your future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so. Anything we should be excited about.

We are in the process of rehearsing and recording demos for the new album. We have a lot of new material which goes to different places and we will lock ourselves in my studio pretty soon!

Q17 – What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band?

The most rewarding is definitely the feedback you get from people that you share your music with and all the emotional trips you are having when you are involved in such a creating process. Been able to play music and be in a band is an incredible gift. The downsize of it is the long hours you have to commit yourself to, for rehearsals and all the routine that's involved. But nevertheless all the hard work pays off at the end.

Q18 - Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans

First of all a big big thank you for your support! Stay tuned, we will return with a new record in 2013 and we are really excited about it!

Well guys thanks for doing this interview. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord. We are massive fans of your great band. Can't wait to hear more great music from yourselves.

Cool! Thank you!!

Well everyone I implore you to check out this brilliant band. You won't regret it. You can download their amazing debut EP - for free from BandCamp right now.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks